Needle-threader.



PATENTED JAN. 3, 1905.

W. P. SLENSBY.

NEEDLE THREADER.

APPLIGATION FILED APR. 20, 1903.

lmount this hook-bar IINTTED STATES Patented. January 3, 1905.

IVILLIAM P. SLENSBY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

NEEDLE-THREADER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 779,103, dated January 3, 1905. Application filed April 20, 1903. Serial No. 153,356.

Threaders, of which the following is a speciiication.

The invention relates to that class of needlethreaders in which a sufficiently thin piece of metal, which I will call a hook-bar, is received in the eye of the needle and caused to extend through. The portion of the hookbar extending through is then engaged with the thread, and a return movement of the parts relatively to each other, either the withdrawal of the hook-bar or a retreating movement of the needle, draws the bight of the thread through the eye. It is easy to afterward straighten the bight. I prefer the ordinary fashion of moving the needle relatively to the hook-bar. I make the hook-bar tapered and provide a series of hooks like closely-set teeth. Each tooth is bent near its point, so that fabrics or other materialspressing gently against the thimble may be moved longitudinally thereof without abrasion; but a force urging the thread directly into the notches will be certain to engage it with one of them.

in a thimble so conditioned that it matches with the other portions of the thimble and involves no difficulty. I provide a groove in the thimble, in which the needle is held in engaging it with the end of the hook-bar. I provide forholding the hookbar reliably in the correct position without soldering; but solder may be applied in addition tomy fastening, subject to the obvious objections of increasing the labor and more or less injuring the appearance.

The following is a description of whatI consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a side view end upward with a portion in central vertical section.

of a thimble open of the right side Fig. 2 is a corre- -is on a larger scale.

sponding view, quarter-turned. Fig. 2 is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, but showing a modification. of a portion on the line 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 It is a face view of what I term the hook-bar. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on the line 5 5 in Fig. 4 seen from the left, and Fig. 2b is a vertical section of a portion on the line b Z1 in Fig. Q

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures where they ppear.

I will first describe the Ainvention as holding the thimble with the open side upward.

A is the body of the thimble, and A the usual thickened rim. I form a shallow notch in the rim having a breadth corresponding to the width of the widest end of the hook-bar and form two horizontal cuts a a2 at lower levels in the upper portion of the body. The partially-freed metal between these slits I will term a band I form an aperture a3, extending upward and downward quite through in the side of the body, and a horizontal groove at the lower end of such aperture.

B is what I term the hook-bar. It is a thin strip of steel of tapering form and provided with a series of round-bottomed notches b, leaving between them a corresponding series of projections, whichI will call hooks or teeth. Each hook B is formed with its lower face inclined and its upper face nearly or quite square. This hook-bar is preferably made from steel without temper,and the points of all the several hooks are bent by sufficient force delicately applied, so that the point of each extends nearly parallel to the axis of the hook-bar. 'Ihis important portion of the implement must have sufiicient strength to pull the thread through the eye. A coarse thread may be engaged in the notch in the thick portion and fine thread may be engaged in the lowest notch. Very fine needles would not allow the tapering bar to be thrust through so far as to expose more than the two lowest notches. The device is therefore adapted to present in the wide portion great strength for large thread in threading large needles, and a Fig. 3 is a horizontal section slender end, with teeth also therein, for treating small needles and thread. My device is thus able to treat a wide range of needles and thread.

The fact of the hookbar being tapered makes it practicable to thread needles of different sizes, making the strength of the thick portion available for threading large needles with large thread, and the fact of the several hooks being crushed down a little gives a rounded contour to the outer face, so that the needle or other object may slide over it better and gives a more ef'ective hold on the thread when it has been forced down and properly engaged in any one ofthe notches.

The horizontal score should be deep enough to allow an ordinary needle to be laid therein and present its eye properly to the end of the hook-bar, and the needle is engaged with the hook-piece by thus applying it and moving it upward. In moving it up the needle rises out of the groove a2, causing the hookbar to yield outward by its elasticity. It is easy to engage the thread with the hook-bar when thus raised, and on moving the needle back downward to the groove again the thread remains engaged with the hook-bar and is drawn through the needle-eye. Then the main portion of the operation is completed. It is easy 4afterward by the fingers or by another needle to open the bight and draw one of the ends of the thread completely through the eye, and the needle is threade I hold the elastic hook-bar in the circumferential notch a in the rim by strong pressure radially toward and from the axis of the thimble. I will designate the metal of the thimble between the cuts a and a2 as A2, and the metal below the cut a2, between it and the hole a2, I will designate A3. The metal A2 is bent outward beyond the ordinary adjacent surface of the thimble, and the metal A3 may sometimes be bent inward within its ordinary position in the thimble. It is not very important how far these distortions are made in the first place; but they should be sufiicient to allow the elastic tapered hook-bar B to be inserted from above. When it is adjusted properly in position, that portion of the thimble is subjected to the action of a press or to one or more gentle blows with a hammer, which brings the metal A2 and A3 back nearly to the original position. When this operation is completed, the upper end of the hookbar is firmly grasped by the thimble, being held inward by the metal A2 and held outward by the metal A at the top and the metal A3 at a lower level. My experiments indicate that this fastening will hold the parts reliably without other fastening.

By reducing the thickness of the hooks from each other I am enabled to reduce the space occupied by the threader in the eye of the needle, thus giving more room where the hook engages the thread to pass through the eye of the needle than if hooks were of uniform thickness with the body of the threader.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the ad vanmain in its ordinary fully-rounded condition..

I claim as my inventionl. A thimble A having slits a a2 with the portion A2 between deflected outward, forming an integral band adapted to hold a needlethreader substantially as herein specified.

2. A thimble A having slits ce a2 with the portion A2 between defiected outward, forming an integral band anda notch a in the rim adapted to hold a needle-threader substantially as herein specified.

3. A thimble A having slits a a2 with the portion A2 between deflected outward, forming an integral band and a notch a in the rim in combination with a needle-threader engaged therewith by being clasped thereby, substantially as herein specified.

4. A needle threader comprising ahookbar of tapering form, carrying a series of hooks thinned toward the points, adapted to serve with needles of varyingsizes, in combination witha thimble, substantially as herein specified. I

5. A hook-bar of tapering' form, carrying a series of hooks having the points defiected and the outer sides rounded in combination with a thimble having an integral band A2 and engaged therein by compression of such band adapted to serve substantially as herein specified.

6. A hook-bar of tapering form, carrying a series of hooks having the points deflected and the outer sides rounded in combination with a thimble having an integral band A2 and engaged therein by compression of such band, the thimble having a notch a in the rim anda cross-groove a2 in the body, all arranged to serve substantially as herein specified.

7. A hook-bar of tapering form, and carrying a series of hooks B having the points deflected inward in combination with a thimble and engaged therein by compression of the parts thereon, the thimble having a notch in the rim and having an aperture a3, and a cross-groove a* in the body, all arranged to serve substantially as herein specified.

IOO

ff 8. A hook-bar of elastic material in oonibi- In testimony that I claim the invention nation with a thimble and extending longituabove Set i'orth I alix my signature in presdinally thereof, arranged to allow the hooklence of two Witnesses.

bar to be sprung outward by causing a needle WILLIAM P. SLENSBY. 5 to be engaged with the yielding end of the Witnesses:

hook-bar and moved upward thereon, all sub- S. HENRY STODDER,

stantially as herein Specified. M. F. BOYLE. 

